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A select group of Illinois Wes­leyan University students are working to assist scholars such as Guangcheng Chen, a Chinese man suffering in the hands of his government for publishing in­criminating evidence of the na­tion’s forced abortion policy.
The organization these stu­dents are act­ing through is called Scholars at Risk (SAR). Illinois Wes­leyan was a founding mem­ber of this pro­gram in 2001, represented on the board at the time by Asso­ciate Dean of Faculty and Professor of Educa­tional Studies Irv Epstein.
“The SAR Network, which consists of over 150 universities around the world, is dedicated to helping scholars whose lives are in danger because of the ideas that they communicate, while also working to promote the protection of academic freedom in all of its dimensions,” Epstein said.
So far, the IWU Department of Political Science has hosted two scholars at risk, one from Cameroon and the other from Ethiopia. Others from Pakistan, Iran, Russia, and Georgia have visited to present lectures.
In April, IWU expects to ac­commodate another scholar from Iran who will bring his ex­pertise on his nation’s political situation to the campus.
SAR amd Chen
But at present, SAR is receiving a unique brand of aid from IWU. The Illinois Wesleyan students working to assist the Chinese scholar Guangcheng Chen are the first college students to attempt the intense research and advocacy inherent in the SAR mission.
And they are doing it without the added incentive of classroom credit.
Professor of political science William Munro said, “this initia­tive began in the Peace Fellows Program, and has been spearhead­ed by senior Megan Thompson.”
She recruited other members to the cause primarily from IWU’s Renegades for Peace and Amnesty International (AI).
“I think that the dedication and passion that the members of this group have brought to the project is representative of the larger IWU student body in that we dedicate ourselves to the causes we believe in,” Thompson said.
Both an IWU Peace Fellow and the second president and chapter coordinator for the IWU branch of AI, Thompson is a passionate ad­vocate for human rights.
The SAR project is an appeal­ing cause to Thompson because “it angers me to know scholars are wrongfully imprisoned and tortured for their efforts to expose injustice and demand change,” she said.
The IWU student SAR team is currently working with the orga­nization to “investigate and lobby for the release of Chen,” accord­ing to Epstein.
“We have only been working on the project since the beginning of the spring semester, and yet I feel we have accomplished a lot and I am proud of where we are going,” Thompson said
IWU’s adopted scholar, Chen, is a hu­man rights lawyer and activist. He is also blind.
Chen has been tar­geted in his country for publishing research and filing a class action lawsuit. Both acts drew public attention to the 130,000 abortions and sterilizations the gov­ernment had forced in one year due to China’s One Child Policy.
Despite being a lawyer rather than a scholar, SAR is still in­terested in his welfare since “his freedoms of speech and associa­tion—freedoms that are crucial for the discovery and use of ideas and knowledge—have been violated,” Munro said.
Chen has already served a four-year prison sentence for “orga­nizing a mob” and “disrupting traffic,” according to Thompson. “But it is clear these charges were manufactured as justification for imprisoning him,” she said.
After his lengthy sentence, Chen, his wife and daughter were placed under house arrest for no published reason. They have since been denied food, medical atten­tion, and communication.
Relatives and friends who have attempted to directly visit Chen “have been beaten, tortured, and some have disappeared,” Thomp­son said. American actor Christian Bale even attempted to use his ce­lebrity status to visit Chen and ex­plore his situation, but was forced by Chen’s guards to flee.
“Chen remains under house arrest, has been tortured and we believe his condition is fragile,” Epstein said.
To combat Chen’s dire circum­stances, the Illinois Wesleyan SAR team is “compiling a research document of everything we know about his situation, and we will be sending it to various human rights organizations and other contacts who we think might be willing to take on this case,” Thompson said.
Epstein hopes these efforts will create additional support “in pres­suring the Chinese government to release Chen.”
The team also intends to visit Chicago at the end of the semes­ter to speak with lawyers at the Chicago Bar Association who may be able to directly and ef­fectively pursue Chen’s freedom.
Overcoming obstacles
But the SAR students’ research journey has presented them with many obstacles. Many websites containing information about Chen gathered within China have been blocked by the Chinese govern­ment. The students also must accu­rately translate the little information they can find into English.
In addition, “our students not only have to read and analyze news­papers, blogs, and information from U.S. government and non-govern­ment sources, they have to place that information within the larger context involving Chinese repres­sion of free thinkers,” Epstein said.
And even if all of the above is accomplished, “helping a scholar is difficult, and the chances of success are low,” Munro said.
But this unique student SAR team has continued to hope the odds are in their favor. They impress SAR sup­porters not just at Illinois Wesleyan but also on a national level.
“The Board of Directors at Scholars at Risk was incredibly
blogs.iwu.edu/argus/
Volume 118 | Issue 19
March 2, 2012
SPORTS, P. 16
FEATURES, P. 9
IWU activists become first students to aid Scholar at Risk
Titans reach
finish line with conference titile
Robins ready
for spring
at IWU
“It angers me to know scholars
are wrongfully imprisoned and
tortured for their efforts to expose
injustice and demand change.”
- Megan Thompson,
IWU Peace Fellow
A common Chinese activist poster features Chen with his sunglasses.
SEE SCHOLAR P. 3
MARY NICHOLAS
NEWS EDITOR
PHOTO COURTESY OF MEGAN THOMPSON
Disabled activisits in China visit Chen with a banner reading, “Happy International Day for the blind Chen.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF FREEMEDIAONLINE.ORG

The Argus, Illinois Wesleyan University; printed by The Pantagraph, Bloomington, IL from 1894-2009 and P&P Press, Peoria, IL from 2009-present.

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The Argus retains the rights to this material. Permission to reproduce this content for other than educational purposes must be explicitly granted. Contact argus@iwu.edu or 309-556-3117 for more information.

Argus issues published from 1894-Spring 2003 were scanned at 600 dpi on a NM1000-SS scanner by Northern Micrographics, La Crosse, Wisconsin. Fulltext OCR was accomplished by the same company in Summer 2009. Issues published from the fall of 2003-present are born-digital.

A select group of Illinois Wes­leyan University students are working to assist scholars such as Guangcheng Chen, a Chinese man suffering in the hands of his government for publishing in­criminating evidence of the na­tion’s forced abortion policy.
The organization these stu­dents are act­ing through is called Scholars at Risk (SAR). Illinois Wes­leyan was a founding mem­ber of this pro­gram in 2001, represented on the board at the time by Asso­ciate Dean of Faculty and Professor of Educa­tional Studies Irv Epstein.
“The SAR Network, which consists of over 150 universities around the world, is dedicated to helping scholars whose lives are in danger because of the ideas that they communicate, while also working to promote the protection of academic freedom in all of its dimensions,” Epstein said.
So far, the IWU Department of Political Science has hosted two scholars at risk, one from Cameroon and the other from Ethiopia. Others from Pakistan, Iran, Russia, and Georgia have visited to present lectures.
In April, IWU expects to ac­commodate another scholar from Iran who will bring his ex­pertise on his nation’s political situation to the campus.
SAR amd Chen
But at present, SAR is receiving a unique brand of aid from IWU. The Illinois Wesleyan students working to assist the Chinese scholar Guangcheng Chen are the first college students to attempt the intense research and advocacy inherent in the SAR mission.
And they are doing it without the added incentive of classroom credit.
Professor of political science William Munro said, “this initia­tive began in the Peace Fellows Program, and has been spearhead­ed by senior Megan Thompson.”
She recruited other members to the cause primarily from IWU’s Renegades for Peace and Amnesty International (AI).
“I think that the dedication and passion that the members of this group have brought to the project is representative of the larger IWU student body in that we dedicate ourselves to the causes we believe in,” Thompson said.
Both an IWU Peace Fellow and the second president and chapter coordinator for the IWU branch of AI, Thompson is a passionate ad­vocate for human rights.
The SAR project is an appeal­ing cause to Thompson because “it angers me to know scholars are wrongfully imprisoned and tortured for their efforts to expose injustice and demand change,” she said.
The IWU student SAR team is currently working with the orga­nization to “investigate and lobby for the release of Chen,” accord­ing to Epstein.
“We have only been working on the project since the beginning of the spring semester, and yet I feel we have accomplished a lot and I am proud of where we are going,” Thompson said
IWU’s adopted scholar, Chen, is a hu­man rights lawyer and activist. He is also blind.
Chen has been tar­geted in his country for publishing research and filing a class action lawsuit. Both acts drew public attention to the 130,000 abortions and sterilizations the gov­ernment had forced in one year due to China’s One Child Policy.
Despite being a lawyer rather than a scholar, SAR is still in­terested in his welfare since “his freedoms of speech and associa­tion—freedoms that are crucial for the discovery and use of ideas and knowledge—have been violated,” Munro said.
Chen has already served a four-year prison sentence for “orga­nizing a mob” and “disrupting traffic,” according to Thompson. “But it is clear these charges were manufactured as justification for imprisoning him,” she said.
After his lengthy sentence, Chen, his wife and daughter were placed under house arrest for no published reason. They have since been denied food, medical atten­tion, and communication.
Relatives and friends who have attempted to directly visit Chen “have been beaten, tortured, and some have disappeared,” Thomp­son said. American actor Christian Bale even attempted to use his ce­lebrity status to visit Chen and ex­plore his situation, but was forced by Chen’s guards to flee.
“Chen remains under house arrest, has been tortured and we believe his condition is fragile,” Epstein said.
To combat Chen’s dire circum­stances, the Illinois Wesleyan SAR team is “compiling a research document of everything we know about his situation, and we will be sending it to various human rights organizations and other contacts who we think might be willing to take on this case,” Thompson said.
Epstein hopes these efforts will create additional support “in pres­suring the Chinese government to release Chen.”
The team also intends to visit Chicago at the end of the semes­ter to speak with lawyers at the Chicago Bar Association who may be able to directly and ef­fectively pursue Chen’s freedom.
Overcoming obstacles
But the SAR students’ research journey has presented them with many obstacles. Many websites containing information about Chen gathered within China have been blocked by the Chinese govern­ment. The students also must accu­rately translate the little information they can find into English.
In addition, “our students not only have to read and analyze news­papers, blogs, and information from U.S. government and non-govern­ment sources, they have to place that information within the larger context involving Chinese repres­sion of free thinkers,” Epstein said.
And even if all of the above is accomplished, “helping a scholar is difficult, and the chances of success are low,” Munro said.
But this unique student SAR team has continued to hope the odds are in their favor. They impress SAR sup­porters not just at Illinois Wesleyan but also on a national level.
“The Board of Directors at Scholars at Risk was incredibly
blogs.iwu.edu/argus/
Volume 118 | Issue 19
March 2, 2012
SPORTS, P. 16
FEATURES, P. 9
IWU activists become first students to aid Scholar at Risk
Titans reach
finish line with conference titile
Robins ready
for spring
at IWU
“It angers me to know scholars
are wrongfully imprisoned and
tortured for their efforts to expose
injustice and demand change.”
- Megan Thompson,
IWU Peace Fellow
A common Chinese activist poster features Chen with his sunglasses.
SEE SCHOLAR P. 3
MARY NICHOLAS
NEWS EDITOR
PHOTO COURTESY OF MEGAN THOMPSON
Disabled activisits in China visit Chen with a banner reading, “Happy International Day for the blind Chen.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF FREEMEDIAONLINE.ORG